2009 Ceramics Award

The One-O-One range of white tableware is made from fine English high-fired earthenware, which is particularly strong and chip-resistant. Produced to celebrate the 101st birthday of its designer, Eva Zeisel, the range has elegant “hour-glass” shapes and handles with swooping curves. The range comprises a large number of pieces, including a dinner plate, cruet, sauce jug, tea set and fruit bowl. One-O-One is made by Royal Stafford, one of the famous English potteries of Stoke-on-Trent, which was founded in 1845 by Thomas Poole. The pottery is now in the 200-year-old Royal Overhouse Manufactory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, which belonged to the Wedgwood family for over 200 years.

One of the foremost designers of the 20th century, Eva Zeisel is known internationally for her modernist ceramics, with their free-flowing simple shapes. Her long professional life led her from Hungary, where she was born, to Germany and on to Soviet Russia, where she was made artistic director of the Soviet China and Glass Industry. She eventually settled in the United States, where she became the first designer to create an all-white dinner service, which was honoured with an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1946.

Here in the UK, she is a Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) and also an Honorary Doctor of the Royal College of Art. Her first range for Royal Stafford, called Classic Century, was introduced in 2004. One-O-One is a completely new design.